The Empire Theatre in Katoomba was opened in January 1915 where the “stately edifice” was welcomed, according to the Echo, by “the great Mountains masses, all filled with a loyal love for their ‘Hill-enthroned city’, and all anxiously watching her majestic progress towards the goal of a glorious destiny.”
Throughout the years till the advent of talking movies in 1929, The Empire showed a wide selection “of first releases from some of the leading film exchanges in the metropolis, so patrons can rely on securing the best that the ever-growing world of cinematography can produce.” As well as showing silent movies, The Empire was also used as a concert and dance venue.
From 1929/30, talking movies proved very popular in Australia generally and in the Blue Mountains in particular. The Empire Theatre took the opportunity to start showing this new medium as soon as possible and advertised its films widely.
The Blue Mountains Historical Society has several of the original movie advertising posters printed by the Empire Theatre in its collection. One of these is the featured image on this post.
One of the first talking movies shown at the Empire Theatre in 1930 was the Marx Brothers classic, “The Cocoanuts”.
In 1936, the theatre was extensively refurbished and renamed The Embassy. It continued to operate as a movie theatre until it was sold in 1954 to Coles. It was then remodelled to become their Katoomba store.
After Coles moved, several different stores traded from the site. The building is now occupied by the Rivers clothing store.
You can share the experience of watching the entire Marx Brothers movie, “The Cocoanuts”, by clicking on the link below or by clicking anywhere within this text or on the photos of the theatres where the link is also embedded.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/172Bf1axHJ_dp-lbQAEhlJKk478HwBh4F/view?usp=sharing
